


King of Hearts

by inspiritchingu



Category: Infinite (Band)
Genre: Fantasy, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-09
Updated: 2017-03-07
Packaged: 2018-09-23 03:44:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9639380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inspiritchingu/pseuds/inspiritchingu
Summary: A king does two forbidden things. One angers his goddess and so, she punishes him and his lover.





	1. Something Important

**Author's Note:**

> For Herny  
> thank you for your faith in me  
> You recommended me to watch 'Goblin' and asked me to give you a Woogyu version of Goblin x Grim Reaper but the drama had me thinking about life and things. I still hope you'll like this even if this story is different.

“Sunggyu,” calls a boy to another boy walking ahead of him. The other boy turns around to face him. He continues to shout, “Do you want to join us? We’re going to have band rehearsals.”

The boy, Sunggyu, shakes his head ‘no.’

“Come on. We need a vocalist,” the boy insists.

Sunggyu takes a while thinking, looking back at the boy with his usual uninterested expression. The boy heaves a sigh and turns his back. “Okay then,” he says as he walks away.

Suddenly, he hears Sunggyu shout, “Wait!”

He turns and sees Sunggyu running up to him.

“Okay,” says Sunggyu. “I accept your offer. I’m in the band.”

The boy looks at Sunggyu funny and then, he shrugs. Sunggyu is really odd. It is not like no one knows that but sometimes, he talks in a very formal way, too formal for this day and age and it catches people off guard.

Sunggyu can see it in the boy’s expression that he has said something unusual but he has learned throughout all his lives that denial only causes more suspicion and it is not curiosity that kills cats; it is suspicion.

“What?” Sunggyu asks nonchalantly. “Is there something on my face?”

“No. Uh, no. Sorry, it’s just...” the boy tries to explain. “I guess this has been our longest conversation. It’s just funny, that’s all.”

Sunggyu stops walking and the boy immediately does, too. He tilts his head and asks, “Are you, by any chance..”

“What?”

“I’m not interested in men,” Sunggyu states. He is not interested in anyone or anything if he is completely and brutally honest.

The boy is flustered. “I’m not interested in you,” he screams. He, then, looks around; checking if anyone is looking at them and misunderstanding the situation.

Adolescents are funny, Sunggyu thinks. They are too self conscious; too agitated even by the littlest and simplest things. Sunggyu does not remember what it was like.

“Okay, relax. At least, it’s clear.”

His thoughts come gushing out. “I wouldn’t even be calling after you if we had someone else but there’s no one else. It wasn’t even my idea. You’re insufferable. Why would _I_ want you in our band? Why would anyone want to be your friend, let alone _like_ you?”

“Okay,” Sunggyu simply acknowledges. He has lived in far worse times to be hurt in the slightest by this kind of words, especially from an adolescent. This kid has not even seen the world.

The shame surfaces in the boy’s face as he retracts what he said. “I didn’t mean...”

“I said it’s okay. Let’s go rehearse,” Sunggyu says as he continues the walk back towards their school building. Then, he turns back to check on the boy.

“What’s your name again?”

“What? What’s my name?” the boy splutters. “We’ve been classmates since middle school!”

“Yeah? Sorry,” Sunggyu says dismissively. “I’m too broke; I can’t even pay attention.”

“Jerk. It’s Howon. Lee Howon.”

“Okay.” Sunggyu forgets as soon as he hears the name.

* * *

Sunggyu’s mother opens the door just as Sunggyu is coming in. She states the obvious, “You’re home late.”

“Band practice,” he says curtly. He climbs up to his room without greeting the rest of his family; he has not even greeted his mother properly.

“You better do your homework,” he hears her reminding him loudly. “Do you hear me, Kim Sunggyu? Get your priorities straight!”

“It’s teen angst,” His father reminds his mother. “It’s just a phase.”

“I know but his grades are slipping. He wasn’t like that before.”

“But he has friends now, at least.”

“I just wished they were good influence. But this… coming home late like this, not even letting us know...”

“It’s just a phase,” his father repeats.

Parents these days are funny, Sunggyu thinks. His father and mother were born just a few years ahead of him. They already think they know everything that their son is going through. They do not have the faintest idea.

Sunggyu is exhausted. No, exhaustion is an understatement. He is burned-out.

Sunggyu has lived four lifetimes, excluding this one. He remembers them all vividly. Their memories burn him out.

The phone rings and his thoughts are temporarily interrupted. He begrudgingly clambers down the stairs because he knows it is for him.

He sees his noona eyeing him.

“I won’t take long!” he announces. “I wouldn’t want to get in the way when noona’s boyfriend calls.”

He hears his mother gasp and his father put down his newspaper.

“Mom, Dad,” she begins as she laughs nervously. “It’s Sunggyu. You know he’s cuckoo.”

“We need to talk, young lady,” the father still chastises her.

Sunggyu savors the moment before he speaks to the person on the other end.

“Hey, Sunggyu,” the person on the other end greets him.

Sunggyu, for the life of him, cannot remember the boy’s name. It has been months since he joined the band but he still cannot remember that one boy’s name. It was Ho-something. Hotaek? Hobin? Hokwang?

“Err, yeah, Hoya?”

“Hoya? You forgot my name again!”

“What?” Sunggyu snorts. “No, it’s a nickname I came up with for you. It sounds pretty cool, don’t you think?”

“Hoya,” Ho-something tries the feel of his new name. “Hoya. Oh, whatever.” The smile is so obvious in his voice. Sunggyu knows Ho-something bought Sunggyu’s lame excuse.

“So, why’d you call?”

“Bring my CD tomorrow. Are you done with it?”

“Yeah, okay.”

Sunggyu has forgotten to even take it out of his bag when Ho-something loaned it to him. Truthfully, he did not even care when Ho-something was telling him about that band and their music. He just said, ‘okay’ and Ho-something gave him a CD.

It must be important to him, Sunggyu wonders as he climbs back up to his room. Usually, Ho-something does not remind Sunggyu to return his things. Sunggyu still has his comic books and ballpoint pens that Sunggyu will never return.

He thinks aloud, “I wonder what it feels like to have something important.”

* * *

Sunggyu opens his bag to check the CD and curiously, he plays it. The first song begins and a funny feeling buds and spreads across Sunggyu’s chest. It travels to his mind and Sunggyu can literally feel pain. The tears that fall down his cheeks are corrosive acid.

It is only a song. It is not even remotely sad. So, it should not mean anything to him but it is speaking to him, asking him. It strikes him really hard.

Throughout Sunggyu’s lifetimes he has learned many things. However, he has never paused to dwell on them.

Sunggyu remembers being a village boy. His mother died giving birth to him in that lifetime. His father was the only one he had. However, his father was always sad and always came home drunk. One day, men came to take his father away.

“Take him instead,” he told them.

They took Sunggyu and beat up his father to death. The last thing he remembers about his father was his broken appearance. He laid there on the floor in his dirty clothes in his dirty house.

Sunggyu hated him.

He remembers he became a slave. They accused him of stealing even if he only had his head down obeying nobles’ orders and so, they killed him.

The first time Sunggyu was reincarnated, he did not remember that life at first. The glimpses of his past life came to him in flashes in random moments. They were why he was killed in war. He was hiding from the enemies but he suddenly screamed when the memory of his execution came to him. They found him and so, they killed him with his own sword.

In his third life, Sunggyu just knew. He cannot remember clearly if it was in a dream or if they came to him while he was awake but he just knew. He remembers them with his first memories as a child. It was, at least, a better life this time even with traumatic memories he had to live with. Sunggyu was born with a promised wife. He was raised to become a good husband and father. However, he could not touch her. When they were alone, Sunggyu thought of a stranger he had not met before to accomplish his duty to the family.

His previous life to this one was just as well sad. Sunggyu devoted himself to studying medicine. He thought what he was experiencing was a disease; early signs of schizophrenia or maybe he had dissociative identity disorder. He had to know why he remembered lives that were not his own. He could not find an answer. He could not even find a single person who would believe him.

In all those lives, Sunggyu lived in misery. In all those lives, Sunggyu was alone. Different faces, different names — in the end, you will leave the world just as you came: alone.

The song asks him and it echoes inside of him, “Can’t you see I’ve waited long enough?”

* * *

Sunggyu comes home earlier than usual. His mother tries her best to mask her joy. She probably thinks 'Sunggyu is back to his old self' — as if she has any clue what Sunggyu’s _old_ self was like.

“Mom,” he begins. “I need to talk to you.”

He waits for her to sit down but she does not. She just turns to him, still holding the plate she was washing before Sunggyu arrived.

“I want to become a singer,” he states in that matter-of-fact tone.

She drops the plate she was rinsing. The loud shatter does not faze Sunggyu. He expected just as much.

“Have you really gone insane?”

Sunggyu’s father steps into the kitchen, looking in turn between his wife and his son. “What is it?”

His wife is fuming. “Put some sense into your son,” she demands before walking away, probably going into the living room.

Sunggyu heaves a sigh and crouches down to clean up the mess.

“What is it?”

“I told mom that I wanted to be a singer.”

“Get out of my house.” The house sounds very still and quiet; too quiet that it makes his father's simple command sound loud. It ought to resound in Sunggyu’s ears, hurt him, or something. However, it does nothing. He expected just as much.

“Okay,” Sunggyu answers. “Let me just pack some clothes and I’ll be on my way.”

Sunggyu climbs upstairs and he sees his noona. She looks at him wide-eyed and he knows. “Don’t worry,” he says. “Don’t bother feeling sorry for me.”

“Are you crazy?” she demands.

Everyone demands something from Sunggyu. He is just about to turn eighteen in this lifetime and so far, this life is already tiring him out.

“You know,” he says calmly. “Life is short.” He mentally snorts at himself but he has to tell her.

“What kind of trash are you talking about, Sunggyu? You’re going to university this fall. You have to.”

“You’re going to spend your life catching up to what you ought to know. When you graduate, you finally tell yourself, ‘This is it, Jieun. Your time is yours.’ You’ll look for employment; you’ll look for love. You’ll try your hardest everyday to juggle between career and family. You’ll make sacrifices because you’ll have committed yourself to these obligations. You don’t really think about it but you know that you’ll give up on some things everyday. As much as you delay trying and making mistakes right now thinking you’ll have time to be happy later, you’re missing opportunities that would have already made you happy. Even if tomorrow were guaranteed, noona, everyday you’re missing out on something because everyday, you’re deciding on what you spend your time on even if you’re conscious of it or not. You know what I say is true. It’s called ‘opportunity cost.’”

His noona is stunned.

“I have to go. I have to find my own happiness,” he declares.

Without looking back, Sunggyu climbs down with his bags and leaves the house.


	2. Emotions

The convenience store cashier rings the man’s purchases which include a cup of ramyeon, a packet of cheese, a cup of kimchi, three triangular kimbaps, and a bottle of cranberry juice. They are not anything unusual, really. They are a typical Korean person’s convenience store go-to diet, except for the cranberry juice. Only old people drink cranberry juice. Or idols, the cashier thinks. Idols need cranberry juice.

“This is your change, sir,” the cashier cheerfully informs the customer. “Please sign here.”

Amused, the man gratefully accepts his change and obediently signs the receipt.

The problem with inductive reasoning is that the argument it produces is not necessarily even valid however true the individual instances may be.

The man laughs quietly—at the thought the young part-timer is guessing he is an idol—as he sits down.

As if on cue, his phone rings. He frowns at it because he already knows what is going to happen.

“Yes?”

“Hey Woohyun, I was just wondering if…”

Sadly, the man, Woohyun, replies, “The answer is ‘no.’”

“But this agent… He said X Entertainment is interested.”

“You can leave if you want to,” Woohyun sighs. “The contract you signed with me lets you go whenever you want.”

“Woohyun, listen. I know you’re a little shy but this is a good thing. Listen to your hyung for once.”

“You’re not my hyung,” Woohyun corrects. “We’ve discussed this. There will be no such hierarchy in my band.”

The man asks a little incredulously, “Your band?”

Truthfully, it literally physically hurts Woohyun to assert himself more than correcting people’s words but he has to set it straight, for his own protection as well.

“Yes, it _is_ my band. As I said though, you are your own free man and you can leave whenever you want. I just have to remind you about the NDA you also signed.”

It takes a while before the man on the other line talks again. He does so, however, snappily, “Fuck you, Woohyun! Fuck you and your rich ass parents who can hire a band for you to play with whenever you feel like it!”

“I’m sorry.”

“Sorry? That’s the best you can do?” The man suddenly starts sobbing. “I really thought…”

“I’m sure that agency can place you in a better band.”

“You don’t get it, do you? A band is not about the vocalist and his hired instruments,” he explains exasperatedly. “Well, I guess it was my fault for having dreams and for thinking that you were my friend.”

Before Woohyun can apologize again, the man hangs up.

“Chairman Nam,” Woohyun greets after his call is picked up. He looks around to check if it is safe. There is only him and the cashier who is doing her inventory so, he proceeds. “Hyunwoo left my band.”

“Don’t worry, master,” the old man assures. “I will take care of it.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re most welcome, master. Please let me know if there is anything else.”

“That will be all for now.”

* * *

As Woohyun waits for his ramyeon to cook, he looks out the convenience store’s glass wall. He looks up at the sky and he almost feels relieved the moon is not out tonight. It is not like how it was before; the moon has become distant but still, Woohyun feels it looking down on him as if it were monitoring his every move.

A young couple—a boyfriend and his girlfriend—comes into his view. Woohyun smiles fondly but then, he feels this familiar feeling—almost like a bitter aftertaste. He remembers his lost love a long, long time ago. He looks down smiling sadly at his ramyeon noodles that have turned bloated.

“What a waste,” he mutters, setting it aside.

As he stands up to get another cup, he notices the couple standing face to face, looking quite upset. Woohyun sighs. He has learned long ago not to meddle with other people’s business. So, he proceeds to be on his way and get another cup of ramyeon.

The cashier is still doing the inventory by the time Woohyun comes back to the counter and she says, “Can you hold on a moment, sir?”

“Yes,” he says, smiling graciously. “Just take your time.”

It has just almost been a minute that passed when the door pushes open and the couple Woohyun just saw outside comes in. In the minute Woohyun stood up, the rain started pouring and the couple are wet from the rain.

“Can you just loan me some money to buy an umbrella?” the girl asks his boyfriend.

It sparks Woohyun’s curiosity though he knows he should not eavesdrop on strangers’ conversations. It has been his long-time policy that it is for the best that he does not take a step into a door if he is not willing to sacrifice his foot; it is often the case when he does so.

The cashier puts down her clipboard and eyes the couple as she rings the ramyeon cup.

The boyfriend pulls his girlfriend to the side to move away from Woohyun and the cashier. He says in a low voice, “We’ve broken up, Soyoung.”

Her eyes widen as the boyfriend turns his back on her but she reaches for his arm and pulls him back to face her.

“What?”

Woohyun really should not intervene. The warning signs are going off in his head. He just wants his ramyeon.

He coughs to get the cashier’s attention but just then, another man—or boy or teenager, Woohyun is quite disinterested to give him a second glance—comes inside the convenience store.

The boyfriend keeps facing his girlfriend while the girlfriend keeps quiet; they are on the same page, at least, that a convenience store is a public place and they should not make a scene here.

“How much is it?” Woohyun asks, snapping the cashier out of it.

She looks at Woohyun like she had woken up then, she looks at the cup of ramyeon in her hands. “I’m sorry.”

* * *

The man, who is drenched from the rain, comes up to the counter, placing his duffle bag across the counter behind the various food cases so his duffle bag is seen through the concave mirror and the cashier can watch it—as if convenience store staff double as security guards as well.

He goes through the aisles, looking for food probably. All the while, Woohyun goes back to his spot near the electric waterpot.

The boyfriend suddenly harshly whispers, “What?”

Everyone can hear, of course. There are only so few people inside the convenience store and the rest are so quiet.

“Just lend me some money. I’ll send it right after to your bank account.”

“I told you I don’t wanna see you again! Stop doing things that will make us talk again.”

“And I told you that I’ll pay you right back! I just want to get home, too but I didn’t bring my wallet!”

“You never bring your wallet!”

Woohyun fights his way through the three minutes of cooking time amidst the arguing.

“Just… Just wait here until the rain stops.”

Fucking jerk, Woohyun thinks.

Woohyun hears the slap—crisp and juicy. It must have hurt, as it should.

“Excuse me!” Woohyun hears the cashier exclaim. “If you hit her, I’ll call the police and report you for domestic violence.”

“She hit me!” The boyfriend yells.

“Sir, please calm down.”

“You,” Woohyun sees the boyfriend draw his finger at the cashier now. “Stay out of this!”

The cashier keeps on repeating, “Please calm down.”

“Go ahead, then. Call the police!” He yells and then, he grabs the disposable umbrella stand. He throws the whole stand to the floor and kicks it several times. “Call the fucking police!”

He looks pointedly at his girlfriend while she cowers and sobs. “You want an umbrella?” he asks mockingly. “To go home? Or to go to your boyfriend?”

“Calm down,” the drenched man shouts grabbing the crazy boyfriend’s arms from behind. “Just calm down, dude. Let’s talk about this.”

It thunders and the rain pours more heavily. Somehow the momentary loud noise drives some sense into the boyfriend; he falls to his knees and sobs.

“She’s a fucking cheater,” he says in between sobs.

“No, she isn’t!” Woohyun stands up to object despite himself.

They all turn to look at him, even the crying girlfriend on the floor.

“How do you know?” the boyfriend asks. He repeats louder when Woohyun does not answer. Then, he practically screams the question.

Woohyun simply approaches them, mentally kicking himself while thinking of an answer.

“Oh, I see,” the boyfriend says, looking at his girlfriend and at Woohyun in turn. “I see how this is. This is your other man?”

The boyfriend tries to stand up but the drenched man holds him down.

“Let me go!”

“It’s storming,” the drenched man says. “Just sit over there and let’s talk about this.”

The cashier picks up the girlfriend and offers, “Why don’t you have some coffee over here?”

* * *

“I bet they were supposed to meet here,” the boyfriend mutters.

The girlfriend cries and tells the cashier—more likely to her boyfriend really, “I don’t even know him.”

“Liar,” he shouts turning to the women on the other side of the convenience store.

“Who the fuck are you anyway?” the drenched man asks.

Woohyun stutters and the boyfriend cuts him off before he can say anything. “He’s the other man. Just look at him.”

The man frowns and the boyfriend asks, “What? Look at him.”

“Yeah, I don’t know, dude,” the man says. “He looks like a model to me.”

“Are you saying my girlfriend can’t get a man like that? Look at me. Don’t I look handsome to you?”

The man coughs, obviously uncomfortable with the question. Woohyun wonders if this man has more trouble being honest about the boyfriend’s looks than the drama scene-esque sequence a while ago. Strange though, Woohyun cannot seem to gage the man’s emotions—not that he really needs to because the man’s face is like an open book. Woohyun can practically see the cogs in the man’s head turning.

The man exasperatedly turns to Woohyun again, “Dude, who the fuck are you?”

“He’s just gonna lie.”

“Shut the fuck up for one second, Romeo! Let the man answer the damn question.”

“I’m just a regular paying customer,” Woohyun says, painfully feigning innocence with his eyes wide and flailing his arms around his food. “I was enjoying my ramyeon and kimbap over here, you see.”

“Liar! You said…”

“What did I say?” The man glares at the boyfriend. “I’m doing the questioning here.” He turns to Woohyun with that glare. “Look, I don’t have time for bullshit so just admit it so this guy can have his punch and they can just break up. Then, we’ll live happily ever after.”

“But I don’t know him!” The girlfriend shouts from across the store. “Honestly. I’ve never seen him before.”

“Look, kid,” Woohyun begins.

“I’m not a kid.”

“I also don’t know these people. I was just eating here and then they suddenly came in and argued.”

“But you said that she’s not a cheater. How do you know that?”

The man and the boyfriend look at him expectantly.

“I didn’t want to get involved,” Woohyun explains. “But I am kind of psychic.”

The man laughs and the boyfriend frowns.

“That’s the lamest lie,” the man says slapping his knees.

“I can prove it,” Woohyun claims. He mentally kicks himself again because how can he prove it?

“Go ahead,” the man says.

Woohyun proceeds to look at the boyfriend and he says, “You’re angry.”

“No shit, Sherlock?”

“You’re angry because your mother hates your girlfriend but you fought for her. Your mother told you she isn’t the girl for you and that she’s just using you. Somehow, that doubt is always at the back of your mind. You’re constantly on edge, wondering if she really loves you or not. But, she does love you.”


End file.
